Social Media

Homeless Hotspots: Not a Terrible Idea

A couple of days into my first-ever SXSW experience, I remarked on Twitter how awesome the Wi-Fi connectivity was at the convention center. Perhaps that’s why I never saw the Homeless Hotspots; I was never desperately searching for connectivity. I did see homeless people—much as you would in any major metropolitan city—but none of them were carrying a 4GMiFi. Had I seen any of them, I don’t think I would have been upset or offended. I might, though, have wanted to ask one of them how they ended up becoming human infrastructure.

At one time or another most of us who spend our days online have likely served as digital infrastructure ourselves. That’s right, if you’ve ever used a hotspot and shared connectivity with a few people, you’re one of the tiny tendrils at the end of an Internet backbone. It’s unlikely, though, that anyone paid you for the pleasure. Your pals simply sucked data off you with no more than a thank you.

For most of us, that’s enough. For these homeless people, though, they’re doing this with an obvious purpose. If you were one of the people who tapped into their roving hotspots without paying, you’d feel like a heel. These people have no home and no source of income—save this digital avenue.

Some people think this is a terrible idea and that it nothing more than a craven marketing scheme and that it somehow dehumanizes the homeless. I don’t know about that. I think the reality of being homeless and having most people walking by on the street actively ignoring you could be pretty dehumanizing.

It’s no secret that the Homeless Hotspot idea is the 21st-century update to Street News. I remember when that project launched as well. It was, I believe, in the late '80s and most of the press it got was positive. The idea was that homeless people would hawk 75-cent newspapers that featured stories about the homeless in their locale. The newspaper was a broadsheet and it had newsy stories, a lot of commentary, photos, and a lot of details about the homeless experience.

For a time, the homeless newspaper hawkers were all over New York City. I remember buying more than a few issues. People you typically saw sitting on the sidewalk with a cup or their hand out, were standing, shouting, greeting and selling the newspapers they helped produce. The problem was, though, the newspapers weren’t very good. The writing was often average (or worse) and the stories, though real and important, started to lose their impact. Overall, Street News wasn’t enough of a real newspaper to survive and within a few years, the number of homeless paper hawkers began to dwindle. Eventually, major media companies introduced free newspapers (like AM New York), which rival some of the paid alternatives, and that pretty much marked the end of Street News.

What really doomed the Street News program, though, was that the homeless were given nothing of value to sell. Homeless Hotspots (an abysmal name — even Street News knew better) are a different story. Outside the Austin Convention Center, finding affordable and lightning-fast Internet connectivity could be a godsend. If you needed it, wouldn’t you be happy to fork over $8 for an hour of connectivity? Plus, you’re really helping someone.

If I stopped to give a homeless person some money, I likely would have handed them a dollar or two. Eight dollars? Probably not. Since Homeless Hotspots use PayPal, I could have given that or more and I would have hung around the homeless person manning the hot spot for an hour or more. Would we have talked? I don’t know. It probably would’ve depended on how talkative the homeless person was.

So, what is so bad about this? You’re giving the homeless more money than they might normally have. The homeless are providing a high-quality service. And you may actually get to know someone new (making a literal and figurative connection). Even if you think Homeless Hotspots is a good idea, it is by no means a solution for the plight of the homeless, who may often need far more than just money (support, counseling, help overcoming addiction). On the other hand, it is doubtlessly better than doing nothing, which is what most of us do.

The sad truth, though, is that this is likely the end of the Homeless Hotspot program. This backlash almost ensures that it will expire in Austin. Is that the goal we were aiming for, to have fewer options to help the homeless?

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